CHINA BEACH: CHERRY (TV)
Summary
One in this drama series set during the Vietnam War, which focuses on the women stationed at China Beach, a combined U.S. Armed Forces hospital and USO recreational facility located near the South China Sea. In this episode, everyone is saddened by the death of Cherry, killed in the Tet Offensive, and Garreau decides to drill the women in target practice, though Colleen considers it a waste of time. Garreau finds K.C., who skipped the training session, and K.C. reveals that Cherry's parents have requested that she escort their daughter's body back to Iowa, though Garreau states that her doing so would "demean" Cherry's sacrifice. Wayloo Marie learns that her recent footage is far too harrowing to be shown publicly, but she is then assigned to create a piece on the "unsung heroes" of the Tet Offensive to boost morale. Colleen catches an agitated K.C. breaking into her medicine cabinet and urges her to "talk about her pain," though informs her that she will turn her in next time. An injured Dodger tells Boonie that he cannot accept being sent home, feeling that he is "not real back there" and vowing that he will not desert his friends.
Richard finds Colleen attempting to "lose" Dodger's file, fearful that he will eventually be shipped back to China Beach and likely killed if he is sent to Japan, but he tells her that she cannot "be responsible for everybody." Mai and Beckett are reunited when she finds him helping to rebuild her house in gratitude for her saving his life, and sparks fly between them as she notes that all of her townspeople believe that he is wooing her in doing so. K.C. drowns her sorrows and tells Boonie that she will be the "comic relief" at Cherry's funeral, though he scolds her for her cynical attitude in the face of her friend's death. Wayloo Marie confides in Bunsen about a disturbing recurring dream, and Bunsen hints that she must face her fears in order to defeat them. K.C. informs Cherry's brother Rick of her death, and when she states that she is escorting the body back to America, he begs her to let him take her place with a forged passport in order to escape prosecution for his pimping and black-market dealings, offering to pay her in heroin. Wayloo Marie works hard at target practice, and K.C. informs Garreau that she has "changed her mind" and will not be headed to Iowa after all.
Dodger explains that he feels compelled to stay in the war because of Cherry, refusing to protect himself even for Colleen's sake, and Wayloo Marie talks to Colleen about Cherry and about her own fears. Beckett tells K.C. that she is "not what she thinks she is," and K.C. stuns Garreau by proving that she is already an excellent shot. She informs Colleen that she will handle Cherry's personal effects by herself, but the two end up reading through their friend's letters together and K.C. is touched to find that Cherry had spoken fondly to her parents about her new "sister." Colleen finds the others having a gloomy wake for Cherry and livens the evening up with music, and K.C. decides to escort the body home after all and refuses Rick's request – and his drugs – and urges him to turn himself in and "find out if he is still human." Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: February 1, 1989 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:47:43
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:55179
- GENRE: Drama, medical
- SUBJECT HEADING: African-American Collection - Drama; Drama, medical; Vietnam War
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 1988-1991
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- John Sacret Young … Executive Producer, Created by
- Fred Gerber … Coordinating Producer
- Patricia Green … Supervising Producer
- John Wells … Producer
- Geno Escarrega … Co-Producer
- Christopher Nelson … Co-Producer
- Mimi Leder … Director
- William Broyles Jr. … Created by
- Susan Rhinehart … Writer
- Paul Chihara … Music by
- John Rubenstein … Theme Music by
- Dana Delany … Cast, Nurse Colleen McMurphy
- Michael Boatman … Cast, Pvt. Samuel Beckett
- Nancy Giles … Cast, Pvt. Frankie Bunsen
- Marg Helgenberger … Cast, K.C. Kolowski
- Jeff Kober … Cast, Sgt. Evan 'Dodger' Winslow
- Robert Picardo … Cast, Dr. Dick Richard
- Concetta Tomei … Cast, Maj. Lila Garreau
- Brian Wimmer … Cast, Cpl. Boonie Lanier
- Megan Gallagher … Cast, Wayloo Marie Holmes
- Fredric Lehne … Cast, Rick White
- Elizabeth Lindsey … Cast, Mai
- Haunani Minn … Cast, Hang
- Dennis Bailey … Cast, Major Buford